The latest cases to be heard at Harrogate Magistrates Court between April 29 and May 13

The following was heard at North Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court on May 3:

Maxi Henry Franks, 33, of Redfearn Mews, Harrogate, received a six-month jail term for breaching a suspended prison sentence. Franks failed to meet the community requirements of the order by skipping an unpaid-work session and a rehabilitation-activity appointment in March. The original six-month suspended sentence was imposed in January for carrying a blade, namely a Stanley knife, on Hookstone Road, Harrogate, in September 2023. The suspended sentence, which was activated in full by the court, resulted in an immediate six-month jail term.

The following were heard at North Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court on May 9:

Reuben Cawthra, 20, of Aismundbery Road, Ripon, received a 12-month motoring ban for drug-driving. He was riding a Honda 125 CC motorbike on Skipton Road, Harrogate, when the offence was detected on December 7, 2023. A blood test showed that Cawthra was over the specified limit for cannabis. He was fined £120 and ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs, along with a £48 statutory surcharge.

John Burrell, 59, of Spa Lane, Harrogate, received a 12-month conditional discharge after committing four burglaries in as many days at the same pub/restaurant in Ripon. He stole alcohol from the Hornblower Tavern in Market Place on three of those four occasions between May 3 and 7. On May 5, he stole two bottles of wine worth £28 from behind the bar. He stole again on the same day when he took a bottle of Jack Rabbit Merlot and three shots of vodka worth £23.75. Two days later, he stole wine of a value unknown. Burrell was found guilty of three counts of burglary with theft and one count of burglary with intent to steal. There was no compensation ordered.

Michael Makin, 61, of Cold Bath Road, Harrogate, was given a 12-month motoring ban for drug-driving. The offence was detected on Cold Bath Road on December 9, 2023. A blood test revealed that Makin was over the specified limit for cannabis. He was fined £120 and ordered to pay £85 costs, along with a statutory surcharge of £48.

Benjamin Neale Luxford, 37, of Wedderburn Avenue, Harrogate, received a six-month motoring ban for failing to reveal the identity of a driver allegedly involved in a road-traffic offence. He was found guilty of failing to disclose to North Yorkshire Police the identity of the driver of a Volvo Vivaro allegedly involved in a road-traffic violation. He was fined £660 and ordered to pay £620 costs, along with a £264 surcharge.

The following were heard at North Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court on May 10:

Ben Orpin, 24, of North Road, Ripon, received an 18-week jail sentence after breaching the terms of a community order. He failed to comply with the requirements of the order by missing three unpaid-work sessions and a rehabilitation-activity appointment in December last year. He wasn’t sentenced for the breach but for the original offences which brought about the original order, imposed in May 2023. Those offences included the theft of a man’s Ted Baker leather wallet and contents including multiple bank cards and a driving licence from the back of a property in Mayfield Grove, Harrogate, in December 2022. They also included two counts of defrauding the named theft victim and one count of defrauding a named woman by using her credit card in Ripon in September 2021 in six transactions totalling just over £309. There was no separate penalty for another of those original offences, namely possessing cannabis. The court imposed a prison sentence because of Orpin’s “flagrant disregard for court orders”.

Bartosz Wielgomas, 19, of Willow Grove, Boroughbridge, was fined £153 for failing to comply with the requirements of a community order. He missed two unpaid-work sessions in December last year, putting him in breach of the order which was imposed in November 2023.

The following was heard at North Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court on May 13:

Nigel Green, 34, of Fairfax Avenue, Harrogate, was fined £80 for stealing six bottles of Plymouth Gin worth £168 from a Sainsbury’s supermarket. He admitted the theft which occurred at the store on Railway Road, Harrogate, on May 12. He was ordered to pay £85 costs but there was no order for compensation because the goods were recovered and there was no damage caused.